Welcher Dominates Bassmaster Elite on Pasquotank River: Record Total Wins by Over 45-Pound Margin

Welcher claims his first Bassmaster Elite Series win at Pasquotank River with a 118-12 total, a record margin, and a massive $106,000 payday.

2023 Angler of the Year Crushes Field by 45+ Pounds and Lands a Century Belt in North Carolina | B.A.S.S.

Kyle Welcher Crushes Elite Field with Massive 118-12 Total

Elite pro and 2023 Angler of the Year, Kyle Welcher, has claimed his first Bassmaster Elite Series victory in dramatic fashion, shattering long-standing records along the way. His amazing four-day total of 118 pounds, 12 ounces of Pasquotank River, North Carolina bass earned him a big blue trophy and the $100,000 first-place prize.

Welcher carried an awful lot of oversized Pasquotank River bass across the Bassmaster weigh-in stage this week. | B.A.S.S.

Day-by-Day Domination: Wire-to-Wire Lead and a Century Belt Performance

His Day 1, five-bass limit of 30-11 set the standard and gave him a commanding lead which he just kept widening every day. He followed that up with 30-3 on Day 2 and 34-0 on Day 3, the Rapala Crush City Monster Bag of the tournament. He sealed the deal on Championship Sunday with 23-14, anchored by a 7-3 largemouth, the big bass of the day.

Brandon Lester fished a great tournament, but there was no stopping Welcher this week. | B.A.S.S.

In fact, nobody besides iKon Boats pro Kyle Welcher even came close to putting together a 30-pound bag on any day. Brandon Lester’s Day 3, 24-11 was closest. And third-place finisher Trey McKinney was the only other angler who weighed in two bags over 20 pounds, 23-7 on Day 1 and 21-7 on Day 3. Welcher absolutely dominated this event.

Third place finisher Trey McKinney flipping another North Carolina bass into his boat. | B.A.S.S.

Welcher’s 118 pound, 12 ounce total gave him an unbelievably large winning margin of 45 pounds, 7 ounces over second place finisher, Brandon Lester. The previous record of 29-10 set by Patrick Walters at Lake Fork in 2020 has been absolutely smashed.

That total weight is also the 13th-largest four-day winning total in Bassmaster Elite history and makes the Pasquotank River the 11th venue to produce a Century Belt performance (four-day total over 100 pounds).

Kyle Welcher with some fancy moves while grabbing a big Pasquotank River bass. | B.A.S.S.

Welcher confessed, “I didn’t think I would get a Century Belt, for sure. When I heard we were coming here, I was excited. I feel comfortable in rivers and was really excited to go to one without a lot of history. But when I saw the forecast about 10 days away from practice, that kind of took the wind out of my sails. (I didn’t think) it was going to set up for the way I like to fish.”

Weather and Strategy: Why Welcher Stayed Close

That weather he is referring to, hit the North Carolina coast in the form of a cold front that started during practice and sent temperatures from the high 70s down to the high 50s. And of course, strong winds accompanied this weather system and created rough conditions in the Albemarle Sound, the vast and wide open, basically Atlantic Ocean, water that competitors would have to navigate to fish anything but the Pasquotank River where the tournament launched.

Many anglers made somewhat risky, lengthy, one-way runs to the Roanoke, North and Chowan Rivers (among others), but Welcher fished a short run from takeoff on a mile-long stretch of the Pasquotank River.

“For you to catch them like this, you have to have fish coming to you every single day,” Welcher said. “That window is super small. I didn’t find these bass until Day 1 of the tournament. They were fresh and there were more coming. It made all of the difference.”

To get an idea of just how big this system is, I plotted the distance from takeoff to the mouth of the Paquotank at Ablemarle Sound at almost 15 miles. These anglers are going to be making some really long runs. | Google

How He Used Forward-Facing Sonar and the Crush City Bronco Bug

He opened the tournament catching prespawn females, but as the tournament progressed, those females locked onto their beds to spawn. Using his forward-facing sonar, Welcher was able to pick out stumps and cypress knees under the surface that the largemouth were using to spawn.

Using a 7-foot-6 heavy Khaotic Kustom Rod paired with an 8:1:1 gear ratio reel spooled with 22-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon, he would pitch a black and blue Rapala CrushCity Bronco Bug to the piece of cover. 

He rigged the Bronco Bug on a 4/0 Gamakatsu G-Power hook and a ¼-ounce tungsten weight, which he pegged with a bobber stop.

Welcher credited a Rapala Crush City Bronco Bug in Black/Blue for much of his success. | B.A.S.S.

Pasquotank River Becomes a Legendary Bass Fishing Destination

And just like that, the Pasquotank River and Ablemarle Sound in North Carolina, which nobody even knew how to pronounce a couple weeks ago, has been launched into the spotlight as one of a relatively few fisheries very capable of producing 30-plus pound bags. It’s been since 1981 that B.A.S.S. held a major tournament here, but I’d bet it won’t be another 44 years before they're back.